It’s easy to make fun of Belgium - a country that is home to nobody famous except Tintin - a fictional boy detective with a hairstyle that would not have looked out of place in ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ - less a country than a civil war frozen in Aspic - the Economist magazine recently ran a leader asking ‘What is the point of Belgium?’ and, needless to say, did not provide a convincing answer - while travelling in Queensland (Australia) I was struck by the number of cattle ranches that claimed to be ‘bigger than Belgium’ - can Belgium really just be a measure of acreage like a Hectare? - etc. etc..

But in cycling terms Belgium is a super-power. Home of countless stars and champions, and of course, of Eddy Merckx, the cannibal, the champion of champions.

In derailleur terms I only know of one Belgian derailleur - the Ihaga, often written as Jhaga due to the 1930s Belgian preference for writing ‘I’s as ‘J’s.